Thomas Juressen, a third-year Medicine student and part of the team organizing the event, says that students with auditory disabilities at VU “often need to look for help and aid on their own”, adding that “it’s not necessarily difficult, but very time-consuming.” He says that one of the goals of the sign café is to let people know that there are deaf and hard-of-hearing people at VU and to prompt them to be more inclusive towards them.
The café is an initiative of Breaking the Silence (BTS), a committee focused on raising awareness of the impact of hearing loss, and a part of the IFMSA-VU – an organization promoting global health awareness and initiatives. The committee does not have any deaf or hard-of-hearing members, but they frequently collaborate with individuals with auditory disabilities to help organize events, according to Juressen.
Learning new phrases
At the sign café, BTS members were there to teach participants simple words and phrases in sign language, like ‘coffee’, or ‘thank you’. Pictures explaining each sign were also displayed at the stand. This concept was meant to shed some light on the perspective of those with hearing loss, as, according to Juressen, it can sometimes be hard to realize how differently they perceive interpersonal communication.
The organizers were pleased with how many people interacted with the Sign & Sip Café. “It’s nice to see people show engagement and interest in what we’re doing”, says Dilara Burçak, a first-year Biomedical Sciences student, organizing the event. Mei Feng, a third-year Pharmaceutical Sciences student and member of the BTS team, says: “we’re also learning a lot. Some people who came by already know sign language”, adding that she herself was able to learn new phrases from them.